Thank you for your interest in The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (ANZJOG). Please read the complete Author Guidelines carefully prior to submission, and ensure that you have adhered to all requirements. To facilitate prompt peer review and publication, manuscripts that do not adhere to the following instructions will be returned to the corresponding author for technical revision.

Note that submission implies that the content has not been published or submitted for publication elsewhere, except as a brief abstract in the proceedings of a scientific meeting or symposium.

Once you have prepared your manuscript in accordance with these Guidelines, submissions can be made online at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/anzjog

2. EDITORIAL CONSIDERATIONS

Aims and Scope

ANZJOG is an editorially independent publication owned by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG).

ANZJOG aims to provide a medium for the publication of original contributions to clinical practice and/or research in all fields of obstetrics and gynaecology and related disciplines. Very few articles pertaining only to animal research are published in the Journal. Articles are peer reviewed by clinicians or researchers expert in the field of the submitted work. From time to time, the journal will also publish abstracts from the RANZCOG Annual Scientific Meeting and meetings of relevant special interest groups, where the accepted abstracts have undergone a suitable peer review acceptance process. The Editor welcomes the submission of Original Manuscripts, Short Communications, Letters to the Editor and Opinion pieces. Systematic reviews and shorter expert reviews will generally be by invitation from the Editor although suggestions for review topics are welcome. ANZJOG aims to provide authors with an initial response, (Accept, Reject or Revision) within six weeks of receipt of a manuscript that adheres to these Guidelines.

Peer Review

Except where otherwise stated, manuscripts are peer reviewed by two anonymous reviewers. The Editor and Publisher reserve the right to modify manuscripts to eliminate ambiguity and repetition, and to improve communication between author and reader. The Editorial Board reserves the right to refuse any material for publication.

Research Ethics Approval

All manuscripts that report investigations involving human subjects must include a statement regarding institutional Ethics Committee approval within the Methods section. The institutional Ethics Committee that approved the research must be identified and the approval number supplied and cited in the manuscript.

Whilst it is recognised that there may be some national variations, guidance for authors can be found in ‘National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Research Involving Humans’ www.nhmrc.gov.au/publications/_files/e35.pdf and in ‘When does quality assurance in health care require independent ethical review? Advice to Institutions, Human Research Committees and Health Care Professionals’ www.nhmrc.gov.au/publications/_files/e46.pdf published by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC). This issue has also been addressed in an Editorial in this journal (Aust N Z J Obstet Gynaecol 2003; 43: 189).

When examining the question of whether or not a study is research requiring institutional ethics committee review or quality review that does not require such institutional ethics committee review, researchers and authors are advised to read the paper by the NHMRC on this subject: www.nhmrc.gov.au/publications/_files/e46.pdf. Whilst the NHMRC is an Australian body, rather than an international body, the ANZJOG Editorial Board has viewed this document as a reasonable standard to work from in the sometimes-difficult area of the need (or otherwise) for institutional ethical committee review in audit. This paper has nine, quite simple questions that will assist with the decision; in the event that a decision is made that a study is a quality review that does not require institutional ethics committee approval, a statement in the Methods section, such as ‘As this review conforms to the standards established by the NHMRC for ethical quality review, ethics approval was not sought.’ (and referencing the above document) would be appropriate.

Any experiments involving animals must be demonstrated to be ethically acceptable and, where relevant, conform to the Australian National Guidelines for animal usage in research, which can be found at www.nhmrc.gov.au/publications/synopses/ea16syn.htm.

Authorship

Each author must have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content. This participation must include: (i) conception or design of the study, or analysis and interpretation of data, or both; (ii) drafting the article or revising it for critically important intellectual content; and (iii) approval of the final ‘to be published’ version. All authors must take responsibility for the integrity of the work. Participating solely in the collection of data does not justify authorship. Please note that review of articles cannot proceed until a letter of submission, stating that all authors satisfy these requirements, and signed by all authors, is received. Once a manuscript has been accepted for submission, no further authors may be added to the work. ANZJOG does not provide dual First Authorship for manuscripts. This journal requires all manuscripts to be submitted electronically, with a signed letter of submission attached as a scanned .pdf file.

Conflict of Interest Statement

Authors must identify potential conflicts of interest, whether of financial or other nature. All sources of financial support for the research, including provision of supplies and services from a commercial organisation, must be listed on the title page, as should all institutional or corporate affiliation of the authors(s). Authors must also disclose any commercial affiliations, whether or not they are a source of funding. The letter of submission must specifically identify any financial involvement (eg. employment, direct payments, stock holdings, retainers, consultantships, patent-licensing arrangements, honoraria) within the past five years with a commercial organisation that might have any potential interest in the subject or materials discussed in the manuscript. If authors are uncertain as to the perception of a possible conflict of interest, full disclosure of competing interests at the time of manuscript submission is required. Financial information will be held in confidence during the review process so as not to influence it. If the paper is considered acceptable, the Editor will decide the extent to which disclosure is important for the readership, as well as the form of such disclosure, and will so notify the corresponding author. Competing interests will not necessarily disqualify a manuscript from publication.

Plagiarism Detection

ANZJOG screens all submitted manuscripts with antiplagiarism software, iThenticate. If a significant commonality between a submitted manuscript and prior publications is identified on this initial software screening, the submission will be subject to a manual review for copyright breach. Whilst it is recognised that most submitted manuscripts will have similar phrases and wording in various sections, the extensive reproduction of previously published works (excluding quotations) including those of the author(s) will result in immediate rejection. Such unauthorised duplication of prior published work is regarded as a serious breach of copyright.

3. MANUSCRIPT CATEGORIES AND REQUIREMENTS

Original Articles

Original Articles should not exceed 2500 words, have no more than 30 references, up to four tables or figures and should be arranged under the usual headings of Abstract (structured, and less than 250 words), Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion and References.

Randomised clinical trials, including a structured abstract, must be written in accordance with the CONSORT standards:

CONSORT statement:

www.consort-statement.org/consort-statement/overview0/

An extended explanation of the CONSORT requirements is available:

www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/340/mar23_1/c869

Authors are advised to adhere to the 25-item CONSORT checklist:

www.consortstatement.org/consort-statement/overview0/#checklist

and to include a figure outlining the flow of participants:

www.consort-statement.org/consort-statement/overview0/#flow

Clinical trials

All randomised clinical trials must be prospectively registered with a public clinical trials registry (eg.www.anzctr.org.au and www.clinicaltrials.gov) and a copy of the clinical trial registration number included in the Abstract and Materials and Methods section of the manuscript. It is advised that this registration be completed prior to recruitment commencing. Authors submitting material based upon animal research are advised to provide clear linkage to clinical implications in the Introduction and/or the Discussion.

Short Communications

Short Communications should be between 1000 and 1500 words, have no more than 20 references, have a short unstructured abstract of up to 100 words, and have no more than two tables or figures. It is possible that articles submitted as full-length may be considered to be more appropriate as Short Communications.

Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor should not exceed 500 words. Short, relevant comments on medical and scientific issues, particularly controversies, are encouraged. Where letters refer to an earlier published paper, authors will be offered right of reply (no more than 500 words). Letters will be published under the sub-category of Correspondence, which appears under the generic category of Letters to the Editor. The submission must be accompanied by a signed cover letter.

Case Reports

ANZJOG no longer accepts case reports.

Reviews

The journal publishes high-quality review material covering both medical research and practice. Reviews will usually be requested by specific invitation from the Editorial Board. ANZJOG does not typically encourage the submission of unsolicited reviews. Authors wishing to submit reviews should first check with the Editor for suitability of the proposed topic. Comprehensive and short reviews are considered. Papers in this category will be considered as Original Research articles. PRISMA and CONSORT standards are suggested to authors for guidance in this category: www.consort-statement.org/

Review categories include:

- Comprehensive Reviews of up to 3500 words and 30-100 references

- Short Reviews of up to 1500 words and 20 references

- Clinical Perspectives are practical updates of management in major medical disorders of up to 2000 words and 20 references

- Systematic Reviews with a maximum length of 3500 words and up to 100 references

Current Controversies

Current Controversies will contain no more than 1500 words and 20 references. In general, two differing viewpoints will be published in the one issue of ANZJOG, at the invitation of the Editor.

Opinions

Opinions will contain no more than 2000 words and 20 references. These should be well-argued, dealing with topics of clinical or research interest in obstetrics and gynaecology.

Position Papers

Position Papers look at major management issues from authoritative specialist societies. These will usually be condensed versions or extracts of larger published statements and will run to a maximum of 1500 words and 20 references. Background material relating to specific recommendations should, as far as possible, appear as explanatory notes after each recommendation, rather than in a separate background statement.

4. PREPARATION OF MANUSCRIPTS

Optimising Your Article for Search Engines

Many students and researchers looking for information online will use search engines such as Google, Yahoo or similar. By optimising your article for search engines, you will increase the chance of someone finding it. This in turn will make it more likely to be viewed and/or cited. We have compiled these guidelines to enable you to maximise the web-friendliness of the most public part of your article.

Pre-submission English-language editing

Authors for whom English is a second language may choose to have their manuscript professionally edited before submission to improve the English. Visit Wiley’s site to learn about the options. All services are to be paid and arranged by the author. Please note, using the Wiley English Language Editing Service does not guarantee that your paper will be accepted by this journal. ANZJOG strongly suggests that manuscripts from non-English speaking authors be reviewed by a person skilled in English grammar and expression prior to journal submission.

Style and Format

Authors are expected to follow these instructions on manuscript preparation: failure to do so will result in return of the manuscript for reformatting.

Formatting: Manuscripts must be typed, double-spaced in 12p, Times New Roman font. Page numbers and line numbers are not to be used, as these are added automatically.

Spelling: ANZJOG uses UK-based English grammar and all manuscripts must be submitted using this form of English language. Spelling must conform to the Macquarie Australian Dictionary.

Measurements: All measurements must be given in SI units, as outlined in the latest edition of Units, Symbols and Abbreviations: A Guide for Medical and Scientific Editors and Authors (Royal Society of Medicine Press, London). Statistics and measurements should always be given in numerals (ie. 10 mm), except where the number begins a sentence. When a number does not refer to a unit of measurement, it is spelt out, except where the number is greater than nine.

Abbreviations should be used sparingly and only where they ease the reader’s task by reducing repetition of long, technical terms. Initially use the word in full, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses. Thereafter use the abbreviation. Abbreviations such as eg and ie must only be used in parentheses. Do not use abbreviations in Abstracts.

Drugs should be referred to by their generic names, rather than brand names.

Parts of the Manuscript

The manuscript must be submitted in separate files: title page; main text file; tables; figures.

Title page

The title page should be submitted as a separate file that contains the following:

(i) Concise title. Make titles as precise and specific as possible and ensure they contain the major key words. The title should not contain abbreviations.

(ii) Author names, positions and institutional affiliations. The full names of the authors should be included with the family name by which that author will be referenced, identified by the use of upper case letters. Position titles of all authors at their respective institutions/places of employment should be included, along with details of the institutions at which the work was carried out, including the department, institution, email address, city and country. The present address of any author, if different from that where the work was carried out, should be supplied in a footnote.

(iii) Corresponding author details. The corresponding author must be indicated with their full postal and email address, and telephone number included.

(iv) Acknowledgements. Acknowledgement of grants and other sources of funds will appear after each article, including a frank declaration of the authors’ industrial links/affiliations. Other contributions that fall short of the requirements for authorship may also be acknowledged.

(v) Keywords - Five key words must be supplied and should be taken from those recommended by the US National Library of Medicine’s Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) browser list at www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/meshhome.html.

Abstract

The next page of the Main Text will contain the Abstract.

Each Original Manuscript should carry a structured abstract of no more than 250 words presented in the following form:

Background: Brief statement of relevant work or clinical situation, and hypothesis, if applicable.

Conclusions: Referable to the aims of the study and may include suggestions for future action.

Short Communications should have an unstructured abstract of no more than 100 words.

Main text

As papers are double-blind peer reviewed, the main text must not include any information that identifies the authors.

This section of the manuscript should contain the main text, followed by any table/figure legends and conclude with references. Tables and figures must be submitted as separate files.

Authors should consider the use of appropriate subheadings to label sections of their manuscript. The Materials and Methods section must carry a statement confirming clearance of the study by an approved institutional ethics committee. Statistical methods used must be specified.

References

• In the text, references are to be cited using superscript Arabic numerals in the order in which they appear.

• If cited only in tables or figure legends, number them according to the first identification of the table or figure in the text.

• In the reference list, the references must be numbered and listed in order of appearance in the text.

• Cite the names of all authors when there are four or less; when five or more, list the first three followed by et al.

• Reference to unpublished data and personal communications should appear in the text only.

• Do not use Endnote, footnotes or any other referencing tool.

• PubMed (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed) is the standard that must be used for referencing.

An online article that has not yet been published in an issue (therefore has no volume, issue or page numbers) can be cited by its Digital Object Identifier (DOI). The DOI will remain valid and allow an article to be tracked even after its allocation to an issue.

Tables must be submitted as a separate Word document. They should be self-contained and complement, but not duplicate, information contained in the text. Tables should be numbered consecutively in Arabic numerals, with a descriptive, self-explanatory title above the table. Column headings should be brief, with units of measurement in parentheses. All abbreviations should be explained in a footnote. Tables should be double-spaced and vertical lines should not be used to separate columns. Footnotes should be designated by symbols in the following order: †, ‡, §, etc; significance values should be indicated by *, **, ***, etc. The use of colour is encouraged in the illustration of Tables.

Figures

All illustrations (line drawings and photographs) are classified as figures. Figures should be cited in consecutive order in the text. Magnifications should be indicated using a scale bar on the illustration. Lettering must be included and should be sized to be no larger than the journal text. The use of colour is encouraged in the illustration of Figures. Each figure must be saved as a separate file (.tif or .jpg) with a resolution of no less than 300dpi. Digital images supplied only as low-resolution files cannot be used. Advice on figures can be found at Wiley’s guidelines for preparation of figures: http://authorservices.wiley.com/bauthor/illustration.asp

Legends

Legends should be self-explanatory and included in the main text. The legend should incorporate definitions of any symbols used, and all abbreviations and units of measurement should be explained.

5. SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Manuscripts must be submitted online at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/anzjog

• Cover letter: A signed cover letter must be provided, which includes a statement regarding the contribution of each author to the intellectual planning of the project, carrying out of the experimental work, intellectual analysis of the data, and writing of the paper. The cover letter must be signed by all authors and saved as a.pdf file. Manuscripts with unsigned cover letters will not be accepted.

• Two Word files need to be included upon submission: A title page file and a main text file that includes all parts of the text in the sequence indicated in the section 'Parts of the manuscript', and excluding tables/figures, which must be supplied separately.

• Each figure must be supplied as a separate file, with the figure number incorporated in the file name. For submission, low-resolution figures saved as .jpg or .bmp files should be uploaded, for ease of transmission during the review process. Upon acceptance of the article, high-resolution figures (at least 300dpi) saved as .eps or .tif files will be required.

• Care must be taken to provide a correct and functioning email address for each author. In the event that a manuscript is accepted, and an address bounces, we will be unable to publish it until we are able to contact all authors.

6. COPYRIGHT, LICENSING AND ONLINE OPEN

Accepted papers will be passed to Wiley’s production team for publication. The author identified as the formal corresponding author for the paper will receive an email prompting them to log in to Wiley’s Author Services, where via the Wiley Author Licensing Service (WALS) they will be asked to complete an electronic license agreement on behalf of all authors of the paper.

Authors may choose to publish under the terms of the journal’s standard copyright transfer agreement (CTA), or under open access terms made available via Wiley OnlineOpen.

Standard Copyright Transfer Agreement: FAQs about the terms and conditions of the standard CTA in place for the journal, including standard terms regarding archiving of the accepted version of the paper, are available at: Copyright Terms and Conditions FAQs.

Note that in signing the journal’s licence agreement, authors agree that consent to reproduce figures from another source has been obtained.

OnlineOpen – Wiley’s Open Access Option: OnlineOpen is available to authors of articles who wish to make their article freely available to all on Wiley Online Library under a Creative Commons license. With OnlineOpen, the author, the author's funding agency, or the author's institution pays a fee to ensure that the article is made open access. Authors of OnlineOpen articles are permitted to post the final, published PDF of their article on their personal website, and in an institutional repository or other free public server immediately after publication. All OnlineOpen articles are treated in the same way as any other article. They go through the journal's standard peer-review process and will be accepted or rejected based on their own merit.

Funder Open Access and Self-Archiving Compliance: Please click here for more information on Wiley’s compliance with specific Funder Open Access and Self Archiving Policies, and click here for more detailed information specifically about Self-Archiving definitions and policies.

7. PUBLICATION PROCESS AFTER ACCEPTANCE

Wiley’s Author Services

Author Services enables authors to track their article through the production process to publication online and in print. Authors can check the status of their articles online and choose to receive automated emails at key stages of production. The corresponding author will receive a unique link that enables them to register and have their article automatically added to the system. Please ensure that a complete email address is provided when submitting the manuscript. Visit http://www.authorservices.wiley.com/ for more details on online production tracking and for a wealth of resources, including FAQs and tips on article preparation, submission and more.

Proofs

Once the paper has been typeset, the corresponding author will receive an email alert containing instructions on how to provide proof corrections to the article. It is therefore essential that a working email address is provided for the corresponding author. Proofs should be corrected carefully; responsibility for detecting errors lies with the author.

Early View

The journal offers quick publication via Wiley’s Early View service. Early View articles are complete full-text articles published online in advance of their publication in a printed issue. Early View articles are complete and final. They have been fully reviewed, revised and edited for publication, and the authors' final corrections have been incorporated. Because they are in final form, no changes can be made after online publication. Early View articles are given a Digital Object Identifier (DOI), which allows the article to be cited and tracked before allocation to an issue. After print publication, the DOI remains valid and can continue to be used to cite and access the article. More information about DOIs can be found at www.doi.org/faq.html.

8. POST PUBLICATION

Article PDF for authors

A .pdf of the article will be made available to the corresponding author via Author Services.

Printed Offprints

Printed offprints may be ordered online for a fee. Please click on the following link and fill in the necessary details and ensure that you type information in all required fields: http://offprint.cosprinters.com/cos. If you have queries about offprints please email: offprint@cosprinters.com.

Author Marketing Toolkit

The Wiley Author Marketing Toolkit provides authors with support on how to use social media, publicity, conferences, multimedia, email and the web to promote their article.